title: Evidence of coat color variation sheds new light on ancient canids.
abstract: We have used a paleogenetics approach to investigate the genetic landscape of coat color variation in ancient Eurasian dog and wolf populations. We amplified DNA fragments of two genes controlling coat color, Mc1r (Melanocortin 1 Receptor) and CBD103 (canine-β-defensin), in respectively 15 and 19 ancient canids (dogs and wolf morphotypes) from 14 different archeological sites, throughout Asia and Europe spanning from ca. 12 000 B.P. (end of Upper Palaeolithic) to ca. 4000 B.P. (Bronze Age). We provide evidence of a new variant (R301C) of the Melanocortin 1 receptor (Mc1r) and highlight the presence of the beta-defensin melanistic mutation (CDB103-K locus) on ancient DNA from dog-and wolf-morphotype specimens. We show that the dominant K(B) allele (CBD103), which causes melanism, and R301C (Mc1r), the variant that may cause light hair color, are present as early as the beginning of the Holocene, over 10,000 years ago. These results underline the genetic diversity of prehistoric dogs. This diversity may have partly stemmed not only from the wolf gene pool captured by domestication but also from mutations very likely linked to the relaxation of natural selection pressure occurring in-line with this process.
authors.affiliation: Paléogénomique et Evolution Moléculaire, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS UMR5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, Cedex 07, France.
authors.forename: Morgane
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ollivier
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tresset
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hitte
authors.forename: Coraline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gillet
authors.forename: Marilyne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duffraisse
authors.forename: Maud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pionnier-Capitan
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lagoutte
authors.forename: Rose-Marie
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Arbogast
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balasescu
authors.forename: Adina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boroneant
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mashkour
authors.forename: Jean-Denis
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Vigne
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hänni
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004285:Dogs / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D019596:Wolves / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial